Padres Joe Musgrove to undergo Tommy John surgery in major injury blow

The Padres and Joe Musgrove’s worst fears came true on Friday.The veteran right-hander and 2022 All-Star will undergo Tommy John surgery, San Diego general manager A.J.Preller announced. Musgrove had dealt with elbow injuries all year but appeared to re-aggravate his throwing arm during Game 2 of the NL Wild Card Series against the Braves on Wednesday. With two outs in the third inning, Musgrove was removed from the game after a couple of awkward pitches and what looked like some discomfort on the mound. He had allowed just one run while striking four. “Replacing Joe Musgrove is a tall order,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said, ccording to MLB.com.

“The good news is we have people that we trust and we’ve got a deep pitching group as we know.Joe is Joe.

He is a presence, a physical presence.He’s pitched outstanding for us since he’s come back. “He was throwing the ball really well in Game 2 the other day.

I can’t say we’re going to be able to replace Joe.He’s a special individual but I can tell you we’ll be just going to compete.

He’ll be in our hearts, but he won’t be with us on the mound.”Tommy John typically takes 14 or more months of recovery time, meaning Musgrove is likely to miss the entire 2025 season. Martín Pérez or Matt Waldron likely will take Musgrove’s spot in the Padres’ starting rotation behind Michael King, Yu Darvish and Dylan Cease. Musgrove spent three different stints on the injured list with elbow problems, though he stayed healthy enough to pitch into the postseason.In 19 starts this season, Musgrove posted a 3.88 ERA with 101 strikeouts over 99 ⅔ innings. He pitched much better down the stretch following his third IL stint, dominating in seven outings since Aug.12 with a 2.15 ERA. Musgrove is under contract with the Padres through 2027 after signing a five-year, $100 million extension with the club in 2022.Cease will get the ball in Game 1 of the National League Division Series against the Dodg...